When travelling through most neighborhoods, one can typically find a free-standing basketball hoop/backboard assembly erected in a neighborhood playground, or adjacent to a residential driveway.
It is desirable to secure a support pole for a free-standing backboard assembly as rigidly as possible in the ground to minimize or dampen out vibrations that are generated by a basketball striking the backboard assembly and/or the support pole. Toward this objective, a lower end of a free standing support pole is occasionally driven into the ground adjacent a playing surface while an upper end of the support pole supports the backboard assembly secured thereto. However, in most instances, the lower end of the support pole is encased in cement, asphalt, or the like, to more securely maintain the support pole in a fixed and erect position.
One incident of providing a rigidly fixed free standing support pole by either of the methods mentioned above is that the support pole is substantially permanently secured within the ground such that subsequent removal thereof is undesirably time and labor intensive.
However, there are a number of instances where removal and/or replacement of the support pole from the ground is desirable. For instance, during long periods of inclement weather, the support pole, typically made from cast iron, steel or aluminum tubing (hereafter referred to as "metal"), is susceptible to rusting and/or corrosion which deteriorates the appearance and eventually the structural integrity of the metal support pole. Also, the pole could be damaged by vehicles parking in close proximity to the pole, or by stresses induced during play. In any case, it is generally desirable to removably mount the support pole in the ground to permit removal of the pole.
It is known to provide a metal ground sleeve having a retainer arrangement for removably retaining a metal support pole. The known metal ground sleeve is typically driven into the ground, or encased in cement so that the support pole can be removably retained within the ground sleeve. Unfortunately, the known metal ground sleeve is susceptible to the same inclement weather as the support pole. Corrosion can develop even during periods of mild weather whereby the support pole and the ground sleeve can rust or corrosively bond together to prevent the support pole from being removed from the ground sleeve.
A further disadvantage of the known metal ground sleeve is that current known sleeve designs do not compensate for variations in the diameter of various support poles as a result of manufacturing tolerances. Typically, support poles for basketball backboard assemblies have a standard diameter of approximately 31/2 inches. However, due to typical manufacturing variations, the diameter of a given support pole could vary enough to either prevent the support pole from conveniently fitting within the metal ground sleeve, or to prevent the support pole from being fixedly retained against movement within the metal ground sleeve.
What is needed therefore is a ground sleeve which is resistant to corrosion and which securely engages and supports a removable metal support pole such as a basketball pole, or the like.